 maddening honey
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May. 11th, 2008 @ 11:01 am 
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I'm definitely going to use this, or something based on it, in a story one day:
(From Wikipedia's entry "Rhododendron")
Some species are poisonous to grazing animals. These Rhododendrons have a toxin called grayanotoxin in their pollen and nectar. People have been known to become ill from eating honey made by bees feeding on rhododendron and azalea flowers. Xenophon described the odd behavior of Greek soldiers after having consumed honey in a village surrounded by rhododendrons. Later, it was recognized that honey resulting from these plants have a slightly hallucinogenic and laxative effect.
Traveling through the links (God bless the Internet), I come to this, from Pliny the Elder, on "Maddening Honey":
In the country of the Sanni, in the same part of Pontus, there is another kind of honey, which, from the madness it produces, has received the name of "mænomenon." This evil effect is generally attributed to the flowers of the rhododendron, with which the woods there abound; and that people, though it pays a tribute to the Romans in wax, derives no profit whatever from its honey, in consequence of these dangerous properties ... What can we suppose to have possibly been the intention of Nature in thus laying these traps in our way, giving us honey that is poisonous in some years and good in others, poisonous in some parts of the combs and not in others, and that, too, the produce in all cases of the self-same bees? It was not enough, forsooth, to have produced a substance in which poison might be administered without the slightest difficulty, but must she herself administer it as well in the honey, to fall in the way of so many animated beings?I feel...:  enthralled I hear...: Old Blind Dogs: Twa Corbies |
Honey drugs! Imagine getting carded every time you buy honey.
Speaking of which, I need to buy more or I will be a sad sad warlord.
I got some just the other day :-)
I will pass on the hallucinogenic laxatives. One or the other please. As bees in honey drown.
Yeah, the laxative property seems a bit... unfortunate.
Unless you've just had some honey and are miles from a restroom!
Funny observing unsuspecting Greeks.
(Please see The Bacchae by Eurpides.)
I love that play! When I was in college, my friend from high school, who happened to be at the same school, was in a production of that. And it was performed outdoors in the football stadium, which is an amphitheater, and when Dionysus appeared, he was standing at the top of the amphitheater with the sun behind him, so you couldn't look at him--just like a real god!
I have to say, though, that they performed it in Greek, so actually I have very little idea what happened. And it was a long time ago. But I do remember being impressed.
You are so kool.
Forgive my boldness.
Everyone loves a compliment :D
Thanks; you're wicked cool yourself!
Funny observing unsuspecting Greeks.
(Please see The Bacchae by Euripides.)
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| From: | ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anushsh |
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May 11th, 2008 04:28 pm (UTC) |
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Really interesting stuff :)
I loved the translation from Pliny--the language is so great!
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| From: | aesiron |
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May 11th, 2008 05:41 pm (UTC) |
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Ooh. I love honey and wanna try this stuff. The laxative effect is unfortunate but the other would be fun.
Just set up a beehive by a stand of rhododendrons, and you'll be all set!
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| From: | aesiron |
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May 11th, 2008 05:51 pm (UTC) |
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Beehives (and wasp and hornet nests) make me hivey. They freak me out and I would firebomb one if I saw it.
Well, I'm thinking of the sort you set up deliberately--usually they're white boxes.
If I find any rhododendron honey, I'll be sure to send you some :-)
WOW! I didn't know it! how interesting, a sort of drug!
Yes--real life is as strange as a story, so often.
*looks outside at the not-yet-blooming rhododendron*
Well, there go my plans to be an amateur beekeeper....
Go ahead! Then you can ship the honey you make to aesiron (see above)!
Hmm... Not sure if I'll ever do it, but it's a bit of a pipe dream. Bees are fascinating creatures.
I'm wondering how you know which part of the honeycomb is the special stuff though...
I've daydreamed about beekeeping too--but still haven't actually taken the plunge.
From what Pliny says elsewhere on the page I was quoting from, I think the special stuff has a different color.
I haven't truly considered it as an option largely because there's a possibility that I'm allergic to bees. The last time I was stung (possibly by a hornet?) I had a 2 inch swollen spot around the affected area.
But yeah... Otherwise I think it would be a very fun hobby to have. At the very least, they're fascinating pets.
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| From: | suzan_s |
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May 12th, 2008 01:04 pm (UTC) |
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Wow, I had no idea.....I love honey....can I blame it on the honey if I'm having an "off" day?!?!?
I guess if it's rhododendron honey!
(I love different sorts of honey--one of my favorites is chestnut honey: the bees feeding on the blossoms of chestnut trees. It's expensive though; haven't had any in a while)
*Grin*
I sometimes feel as though I missed my calling, and ought to go back to school to become an ethnobotanist or a mycologist.
I know what you mean. My interest in poison is absolutely not a good thing. When I read the quote from Pliny to wakanomori, he said, "I wonder how you say 'forsooth' in Latin." Hope your day is improving!
Good, maybe not. Awesome, yes. No writer doesn't love poison, too many uses, too many connotations.
I have the kind of woke up in the middle of dreaming head which makes the day, well, if I accomplish anything at all, it will be a miracle. Experience tells me this is A Day About Which Nothing Can Be Done, and no sense in trying to fight it.
Well, out of dreams and daydreams come some of the best inspirations. Leaving the field fallow for a day may just mean you are all the more fruitful in the days to come.
Oooh, smoking-hot agricultural metaphor FTW!!
That was the idea of the weekend. *sigh*
Hang in there. Maybe you need to visit some watery haunts.
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